While this is technically a late addition to our Board of Supervisors Agenda Items of Interest post, we thought this one was interesting enough to warrant it's own breakdown: Down in Bernal Heights our friends at Bernalwood tipped us off that Supervisor Campos plans to introduce legislation at today's meeting that would create a simple process to preserve historic signs citywide and not just protect that controversial, vintage Coca-Cola ad in his district.

Campos' staffers have definitely done their research. They're citing a 20-year-old essay on The Preservation of Historic Signs (long academic article warning) as justification of their claim that signs become a part of "community memory" and more than just advertisements. Think of it as a clear definition of what's "old" versus what's "vintage." From the legislative digest: "In an era where signs are mostly uniform, a historic sign can add some individuality to the neighborhood in which it exists and also to the City as a whole."

Per Bernalwood's synopsis, the legislation would:

• Create a clear definition of a historic sign as being one that “depict(s) in text or graphic form a particular residential, business, cultural, economic, recreational, or other valued resource which is deemed by the Planning Commission to be of historic value and contributes to the visual identity and historic character of a City neighborhood or the City as a whole.”
  
• Stipulate that historic sings can be restored, framed, and regularly maintained, BUT property owners cannot change the art or copy of the original design.
  
• Enable preservation of a single sign through a standard conditional-use permit issued by the City Planning Commision, without the need to go through all the hassle, expense, and hoo-ha of creating a special “Historic Sign District.”

Sounds pretty straightforward to us. It's already been introduced to the board by the time we posted, but we'll keep an eye on this refreshingly simple (and not to mention NIMBY-muzzling) legislation as it moves forward.

Previously on SFist: Bernal Coke Sign Will Be Saved, NIMBY Watch: A Battle Over a Vintage Coke Sign Turns Crazy
[Bernalwood]